Our Summer Reading Program starts June 1! Check out this video for more details.

Supplies:
1. cardboard egg carton
2. Exacto knife or utility knife
3. glue gun or tacky glue
4. paint – tempera, poster paint, or acrylic
5. scissors
6. craft materials: pipe cleaners, yarn pieces, googly eyes, colored paper scraps, foam pieces, beads, sequins, felt pieces, etc.

Directions: ADULT SUPERVISION REQUIRED!
1. cut lid off egg carton.
2. cut around base of an egg divider with the sharp knife. For best results, use a short sawing motion to cut around the base of the divider. Cut two of these.

3. Trim bottom of dividers if necessary.
4. A notch must be cut in one divider as shown in the photo below. This will be the head of your critter and it slides onto the lower divider as shown.

5. Apply hot glue with ADULT SUPERVISION or tacky glue to notch and press on to the lower divider.
6. Take the divider that was just cut and place it on top of the other piece as shown.
7. Paint your critter the desired color and let it dry for an hour or so.
8. Using the glue gun or tacky glue, decorate your critter with googly eyes, colored paper pieces, yarn, beads, pipe cleaners, etc. Show others your egg carton critter. Make a zoo!

Leave a comment below if you have any questions or have any suggestions for future Way Cool Crafts. Thanks!

Winners for this year’s Dr. Seuss Writing Contest have been announced. They will receive a gift card to Barnes and Nobles and read their story for broadcast on PPLD TV. This contest was sponsored by the Friends of the Rockrimmon Library.

Ages 6 – 9
1st place: Sydney Tucker
2nd place: Eliana Diaz

Ages 10 – 13
1st place: Hillary Schiff
2nd place: Elise Van Arsdale

From April 18 – 29, any four year old can pick up a free book from any PPLD library. There will be English and Spanish versions available (while supplies last). Check with your local library for fun events related to this giveaway.

Colorado Lt. Governor Joe Garcia developed this state-wide initiative to emphasize the importance of early literacy and reading to children. For more info, visit onebook4colorado.org.

Supplies:
1. 8 ½ x 11 green construction paper or cardstock.
2. 2 2” wide strips of white construction paper
or white cardstock.
3. 2 quarter-sized circles cut out of white construction paper or cardstock.
4. Zig-zag style scissors.
5. Glue stick
6. Sharpie or black marker

Fold green paper in half from top to bottom. At the fold lightly draw lines to form a triangle with a small one inch gap at the tip of the triangle to form the snout of the alligator. The wide base of the triangle should be on the fold.
Fold strips of white paper in half lengthwise to form a long narrow strip. Cut a zig-zag edge along one side of the strip. Do the same thing on the other strip. Cut the two strips in half to form four sections of “teeth” for the alligator. Glue the flat side of each strip to the inside of your alligator mouth. Jagged teeth should be standing up in mouth.
The round circles will be alligator eyes. Draw a black circle in the middle of the eye with a Sharpie or a black marker. Bend a bit of the bottom of the paper eye to apply gluestick and glue eyes on top of alligator’s head. Watch out don’t stick your fingers in his mouth, he might bite you!!! Enjoy!!

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Zooglobble, a popular and comprehensive website for kids’ music news, reviews, and interviews, has selected a PPLD TV production as one of the Top 10 Kids Music Videos of 2011: “Bartleby Finkleton Will Not Take a Bath”, written and performed by Colorado Springs musician Steve Weeks.

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The Penrose Library Children’s Department has built a new attraction for young readers. Come and read your favorite book in our ‘cool’ igloo made from recycled plastic milk jugs! Nearly 300 milk jugs were used to construct the igloo, and it’s still growing! Here are some directions in case you and your family or class would like to build your own reading igloo!
Don’t worry, you won’t have to bundle up to enjoy our igloo; it’s a warm and cozy place to relax with a book. Come check it out today!

(Igloo means ‘snow house’ in the Inuit language. The Inuit people, also called Eskimo, live in the Arctic regions of Canada, Denmark, Russia, and the United States. Traditionally, igloos were made of snow, sod, and stone.)

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PPLD knows how important early literacy is to families and the community. That’s why PPLD’s Children’s Department has created the Countdown to Kindergarten Carnival, an early literacy program designed to get families interacting with one another in ways that are both fun and effective in improving early literacy skills.

Six Carnivals at multiple library locations in early 2012 (see schedule below) will teach parents and caregivers five simple but powerful practices they can use to help young children get ready to read. These five practices are incorporated into Every Child Ready to Read workshops and can easily be integrated into everyday activities to help children learn early literacy skills. The five early literacy practices are talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing.

Countdown to Kindergarten Carnival is free and open to parents, grandparents, childcare providers, preschool teachers, and other caregivers. There are no reservations required for these drop-in programs:

• Sat., Jan. 14 from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. – Fountain Library
• Sat., Jan. 28 from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. – Penrose Library
• Sat., Feb. 11 from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. – High Prairie Library
• Sat., Feb. 25 from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. – Rockrimmon Library
• Sat., March 24 from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. – East Library
• Sat., March 31 from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. – Sand Creek Library

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Supplies
1. Red, white, or pink construction paper or cardstock.
2. Scissors
3. Small heart shaped stickers (approx. ¼”) or tiny google eyes.
4. 1” heart or teardrop shape stickers for ears, or just make ears out of paper.
5. Red, pink, or white yarn for tails. Narrow ribbon will also work.
6. Glue stick or tacky glue.

Preparation
1. Pick color of paper for your mouse. Fold paper in half. Cut half of a heart shape (may want to draw a pencil line of this to follow first).
2. Cut the half heart shape out with scissors.
3. Cut a piece of yarn or ribbon about 5” or so for your mouse tail.
4. Put some glue stick or glue on the inside fold line of mouse (about 2-3” long). Place mouse tail on glue and press down for a few seconds.
5. Add stickers for eyes and ears (or make 3-d ears out of construction paper leftovers).
6. Baby mice can be made exactly as above by cutting the folded half heart much smaller.

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The 2012 theme is You Are Here Now: Poems of Place. Where is your creative space? Where can you be yourself? Do you have a secret place? Some examples of poems of place are The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson, Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost, or Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. You can find these poems and other poems of place at poets.org.

Prizes: Six winners of $25 each. Winners will also receive a book and a Kennedy Center Imagination Celebration poster.

Eligibility: Open to all fourth and fifth graders in the Pikes Peak region. Meets Colorado Model Content Standards 1, 2, and 4 for Reading and Writing.

Contest Rules:
1. One entry per student. Teachers are urged to review poems and submit no more than five per class.
2. Each poem must be the original work of the contestant.
3. Poems will be judged on originality, including poem title and adherence to the theme.
4. Submit two typed, double-spaced copies of each poem on 8½” x 11” paper (no handwritten submissions or illustrations will be accepted). Include on a separate piece of paper: name, telephone number, home address, school name and address, and teacher and principal names. Poems will not be returned. Please keep a copy.
5. Entries must be postmarked by February 18, 2012. Submission of a poem constitutes full permission to exhibit, use, and publish the poem for any purpose – printed or electronic media – and to publish the name, school, and photographs of the student without compensation.

Mail entries to:
The Jean Ciavonne Poetry Contest
c/o Nancy Maday
Pikes Peak Library District
P.O. Box 1579
Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1579
Or fax to: 632-6043

Questions? Call Nancy Maday at 531-6333, x2405. Awards will be announced in mid-April as part of the Imagination Celebration and Young People’s Poetry Week.

Check out last year’s winners reading their work in these PPLD TV-produced videos. The 2011 theme was Poems of the Abyss.

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